MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Swimmable Rivers Tour: Waikato Last week, we rolled up to the mighty Waikato on the final day of our swimmable rivers tour. Co-Leader James Shaw, Denise Roche MP and I started our day in Horotiu where the primary school has been focussing on the awa […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Agriculture: The right signals Landcorp is New Zealand’s biggest farming operation. It’s a farming company with more than 100 farms, owned by us – the people of New Zealand – and I was very pleased to read a piece by Landcorp CEO, Steven Carden talking […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Manawatū River – Swimmable Rivers Tour On Thursday, I was fortunate to visit the lovely Manawatū river as part of our Swimmable Rivers tour. Our day started at Awapuni School in Palmerston North with the bilingual class – a bright and beautiful group of tamariki who […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Rallying for clean water This week people all over the country took to the streets to support clean water. There were rallies held from Whangarei to Invercargill. Everywhere people were calling for clean water rather than letting companies export our fresh water without paying for it. The […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Protecting Te Waikoropupū Springs Last Friday night, there was a meeting of more than 300 people about the risk of increased water takes for farming in the catchment upstream of the magnificent Te Waikoropupu Springs (‘Pupu Springs’) in Golden Bay. The aquifer that feeds the […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Swimmable Rivers Tour: a great day at the Tukituki I’m buzzing! Yesterday, we had a great visit to the Tukituki river area to focus on swimmable river solutions. The day started near the mouth of the Tukituki at Haumoana where we were honoured to participate […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Groundwater: The mysterious life of underground water On Sunday, we launched my Members’ Bill to protect underground water and aquifers. It’s called the Resource Management (Clean Groundwater) Amendment Bill. Catchy title. What does it do? It changes parts of the Resource Management Act, the legislation […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Nick Smith thinks New Zealanders are stupid Does Nick Smith think New Zealanders are stupid? His dirty rivers spin sure makes it look that way. Just calling the standards for wading and boating “swimmable” is not progress. At 540 Ecoli per 100mL, the new “swimmable’ […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Listen to the 12,000 names for freshwater Yesterday, Hon David Parker and I spoke at the Freshwater Management and Infrastructure Forum at Te Papa. The audience was mainly Council staff, irrigators and fertiliser people. David and I were in agreement that there we must change […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Cautionary tales from the Swimmable Rivers campaign Every week, I get media alerts about unhealthy water, including algae risks at swimming spots and boil water notices in small towns. It got personal the other week when I went kayaking on a river and found a […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Swimmable Rivers tour – Ōkahukura/Lucas Creek When Environment Minister Nick Smith said in Parliament that some waterways – like Auckland’s Lucas Creek – are not worth saving because no-one wants to swim in them, he forgot to ask the locals we met last week who have […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Lucas Creek – here we come! The fifth river in our Swimmable Rivers tour is an urban river on the North Shore called Lucas Creek, which runs from the outer suburban edge near Paremoremo through to the Waitemata harbour. The river came to our attention when […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Awa Kairangi/Hutt River – Swimmable? On Thursday night I hosted a great swimmable rivers meeting organised by the local Greens in Heretaunga (Hutt Valley). It was great to see about 70 people attend and engage in the topic. We were welcomed by Te Atiawa representative […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Flushing out the waste water problem Alongside the massive problem of 10 million cattle and their waste entering our waterways, is the lesser but vexed issue of human waste. All over the country, councils struggle with developing wastewater systems that actually work and do not […]

MIL OSI – Source: Green Party – Press Release/Statement Headline: Conservation Week: Exploring the Oparara Basin with my son This week is Conservation Week. The overarching theme for Conservation Week is ‘Healthy Nature Healthy People’. It encourages people to become aware of the link between a healthy natural environment and their own health. We all benefit from conservation, so we all must play a […]